The Boys IPA and Cognac Joke Is Much Deeper Than You May Think

While Prime Video 's The Boys may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's hard to deny the show's growing success. A social commentary on the state of modern society, it takes everything viewers know about superheroes and throws it out the window, offering a fresh perspective on the genre.

Despite all the criticism that season 4 of The Boys has received so far, there is one thing that viewers can give Eric Kripke credit for. His principles are the only thing that keeps the show free of product placement, as it spits out the jokes about it instead.

Is There a Real Product Placement in The Boys?

The moment a TV show gets a solid audience on one platform, executives start thinking about how to maximize profits. The Boys has never been an exception, even though the show is far from family-friendly. If it weren't for the showrunner fighting to keep the show ad-free, there might be a lot more brands looking to sponsor it.

As Eric Kripke has confirmed in various interviews, Prime Video tends not to be too strict with the show's rules. As long as it works, attracts more people, and the creative team knows what they're doing, The Boys are allowed to do all kinds of crazy things. The commercial wasn't forced on them either, as Kripke had the option to say no.

And he did! To this day, The Boys remains free of any attempt to sell anything to its viewers. However, the idea of digital product placement was so telling about the state of modern society and the industry as a whole that Kripke had no choice but to use it as a joke in one of the show's episodes.

Thus was born the iconic new feature for Vought+. Announced by The Deep and a number of other Vought representatives in the episode Beware the Jabberwock, My Son, the feature suggests that the product be changed according to the viewer's preferences and demographics, just as IPA was changed to cognac for the show's black audience.

While no one wants to take The Boys as prophetic, this joke is one of the more realistic references to the way digital marketing works today, not only in advertising, but also in your favorite TV shows and movies. So if you want to see what other bizarre phenomena the show might bring to life, be sure to tune in every Thursday for new episodes on Prime Video.